In this book review, Beau Steenken discusses Legal Research Methods by Michael D. Murray & Christy H. DeSanctis

Steenken, Beau

English

University of Kentucky

Keeping Up with New Legal Titles

University of Kentucky UKnowledge Law Faculty Scholarly Articles Law Faculty Publications Winter 2016 Keeping Up with New Legal Titles Beau Steenken University of Kentucky College of Law, beau.steenken@uky.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/law_facpub  Part of the Legal Writing and Research Commons Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits you. Repository Citation Steenken, Beau, "Keeping Up with New Legal Titles" (2016). Law Faculty Scholarly Articles. 558. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/law_facpub/558 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Faculty Publications at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Law Faculty Scholarly Articles by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact UKnowledge@lsv.uky.edu. Keeping Up with New Legal Titles Notes/Citation Information Beau Steenken, Keeping Up with New Legal Titles, 108 Law Libr. J. 119 (2016) (reviewing Michael D. Murray & Christy H. DeSanctis, Legal Research Methods (2d ed. 2012)). This book review is available at UKnowledge: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/law_facpub/558 LAW LIBRARY JOURNAL Vol. 108:1 [2o16-6]Keeping Up with New Legal Titles*Compiled by Benjamin J. I(eete** and Nick Sexton***ContentsGlass Half Full: The Decline and Rebirth of theLegal Profession by Benjamin H. BartonKafka's Law: The Trial and American CriminalJustice by Robert P. BurnsA New Introduction to American Constitutional-ism by Mark A. GraberThe U.S. Supreme Court's Modern Common LawApproach to Judicial Decision Making bySimona GrossiThe Relevant Lawyer: Reimagining the Futureof the Legal Profession edited by Paul A.HaskinsInjustices: The Supreme Court's History of Com-forting the Comfortable and Afflicting theAfflicted by Ian MillhiserLegal Research Methods, Second Edition byMichael D. Murray and Christy H.DeSanctisBiblio Tech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Everin the Age of Google by John Palfreyreviewed byCarey A. Siasreviewed bySusan Gualtierreviewed byRobert N. Clarkreviewed byMary BethChappell Lylesreviewed bySarah K. C. Mauldinreviewed byLynne F. Maxwellreviewed byBeau Steenkenreviewed byJodi L. Collova* The works reviewed in this issue were published in 2013,2014, and 2015. If you would like toreview books for "Keeping Up With New Legal Titles," please send an e-mail to bkeele@indiana.eduand nsexton@email.unc.edu.** Research and Instructional Services Librarian, Ruth Lilly Law Library, Indiana UniversityRobert H. McKinney School of Law, Indianapolis, Indiana.*** Clinical Assistant Professor of Law and Reference/Collection Development Librarian, KathrineR. Everett Law Library, University of North Carolina School of Law, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.KEEPING UP WITH NEW LEGAL TITLESMurray, Michael D., and Christy H. DeSanctis. Legal Research Methods, SecondEdition. St. Paul: Foundation Press, 2015. 256p. $100.Reviewed by Beau Steenken*141 Legal Research Methods, Second Edition, is the latest installment in the com-prehensive system of legal research and writing texts by Michael D. Murray andChristy H. DeSanctis. In addition to Legal Research Methods, Murray and DeSanctishave authored Legal Writing and Analysis, a number of advanced legal writing texts,and Legal Research and Writing Across the Curriculum, which I try to leave in thepaths of susceptible doctrinal faculty members whenever possible. Much haschanged in the legal research world since the first edition of Legal Research Methodsappeared in 2009, so the second edition is a welcome addition.142 In the second edition, Murray and DeSanctis replace all of the screenshotsin the book to reflect the new generation of legal research platforms. Furthermore,they discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of the new platforms and providesound advice on how to narrow in on the most relevant results using the new sys-tems, such as effectively using both presearch and postsearch filters. Also, the newedition provides treatment of Bloomberg Law alongside WestlawNext and LexisAdvance. Similarly, FDSys takes the place of THOMAS in the chapter on legislativehistory, though Congress.gov is oddly absent. Beyond the technology updates, notmuch has changed in the second edition, but that is a good thing because the work'sorganization, content, and tone make Legal Research Methods a solid choice as a textfor first-year legal research courses.143 As I can attest, having recently coauthored a first-year legal research text forCALI's eLangdell Press, choosing how to organize the vast amount of informationthat needs to be relayed to first-year law students is a daunting task. This difficultycan be seen in the split among both texts and teachers of legal research in where tobegin. Some favor beginning with secondary sources, as those are traditional start-ing points of the research process. Others prefer beginning with primary sources, asthese constitute the most important of potential research results. Murray andDeSanctis take the latter approach, but they bracket it with thorough, readable dis-cussions of the research process in the first and last chapters. The authors showstudents how to use select secondary sources to find relevant primary sources whenintroducing the primary sources, then fleshing out secondary sources more fully ina later chapter. This hybrid approach excellently emphasizes the relative importanceof primary sources while also highlighting the utility of secondary sources.144 In terms of content, Legal Research Methods provides a sound amount ofinformation for a first-year course. The text covers the core topics of constitutions,statutes, cases, regulations, and secondary sources, as well as legislative history andlocal court rules. Most impressively, Murray and DeSanctis manage to focus onelectronic research, to which most students gravitate, while also following up withenough discussion of print sources to provide students with not only backgroundcontext but also instructions on how to conduct print research if they do not work* © Beau Steenken, 2016. Instructional Services Librarian, University of Kentucky College ofLaw Library, Lexington, Kentucky.VOL 108:1 [2o16-6]LAW LIBRARY JOURNALat jobs with expensive research platforms. (Murray and DeSanctis are rightfullyskeptical of the efficiency of legal research using free online sources.) Legal ResearchMethods thus would work well with most first-year legal research courses, particu-larly those that begin immediately with computer-assisted research.145 Finally, Murray and DeSanctis use a direct, unpretentious tone that is likelyto connect well with students. The authors use the second person to deliver bothspecific instructions and more general advice. They often make use of hypotheti-cals to aid students in understanding the reasons for esearch steps, as well as themechanics of conducting research. However, at times the discussion of technicalsteps, such as Boolean searching, struck me as a bit quick, so I would emphasize tostudents the value of having a computer handy to follow along and visualize fullythe concepts being relayed by the reading.46 In conclusion, Legal Research Methods, Second Edition, provides a necessaryupdate to the first edition and would be a solid choice as a text for first-year legalresearch courses, particularly those that jump straight to computer-assistedresearch.Palfrey, John. BiblioTech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google.New York: Basic Books, 2015. 280p. $26.99.Reviewed by Jodi L. Collova*47 Libraries will be as necessary in the future as they were in the past-if weplay our cards right. John Palfrey, former director of the Harvard Law Library, sug-gests that to thrive in a "digital-plus" age (p.73), we must "hack" libraries (p. 112)-that is, deconstruct the way that we envision libraries and reinvent them. We canno longer think of libraries as storehouses for books, but must reconceptualizelibraries as networked platforms. In the digital-plus era, a greater amount of infor-mation is available. Meanwhile, library budgets are shrinking. As such, it is notpossible or desirable for an individual library to maintain every resource that itsusers may need. Instead of focusing on individual physical libraries, Palfrey calls onlibraries to collaboratively provide networked access to digital collections on a scalemuch greater than interlibrary loan.48 While Palfrey promotes mass digitization, he advocates for a gradual tran-sition that still includes library materials in print format. "Libraries serve a diverserange of patrons with a diverse set of practices," he writes, "ranging from the mostdigitally savvy to the determinedly analog" (p.41). Thus, to serve all of their users,networked libraries need to provide access to materials in multiple formats. Addi-tionally, while the need for digital information has increased, the preservation ofdigital information presents a problem. Digital information is easy to create butdifficult to store, which makes it desirable for a network of libraries to preserve atleast one original print copy of an item.49 BiblioTech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google is acall to action for librarians and library supporters: "Those of us who care deeply* © Jodi L. Collova, 2016. Research Librarian and Adjunct Professor of Law, University of SanFrancisco School of Law, San Francisco, California.VOL. 108:1 [2o16-6]

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